The present invention is directed generally to kitchen utensils or appliances and, more specifically, to food graters which cut, slice or grate food items.
There are several different types of utensils or appliances which cut, slice, grind, grate or process food items in a number of different ways. Some of these devices enable a user to manually process the food items. For example, a food mill typically includes a container, a blade positioned in the bottom of the container and a handle portion which is connected to the blade. A user rotates or turns the handle to correspondingly rotate or turn the blade to process a food item inserted into the container. The processed food item comes out of the bottom of the food mill and falls into a separate container, such as a bowl.
Another manually operated device is a conventional handheld grater such as a cheese or vegetable grater. Such graters typically have a relatively thin housing including a blade. The blade includes several openings and relatively small blade-like protrusions which are positioned adjacent to the openings. A user holds the grater in one hand and manually slides a food item, such as a block of cheese, on the top surface of the blade to cut or slice the food item into smaller pieces. The smaller food pieces or particles may drop from the bottom surface of the grater into a separate container, such as a bowl.
Other graters combine containers and blades into one device. These graters generally include a container defining an opening and a blade portion which is seated in the opening. Some of these containers also include a handle which extends from one end of the grater and is used to carry and/or hold the grater. Typically a user grasps the extended handle in one hand and slides or moves a food item over the blade using the other hand as described above to cut or slice the food item into smaller particles. The cut or sliced particles fall from the bottom surface of the blade into the container. The blade is removed to access the processed food in the container.
One problem with conventional food graters is that it is difficult to hold the food grater in position using a side-extended handle while sliding or moving the food product along the blade. The force associated with the movement of the food product over the blade tends to move the entire grater in the same direction as the movement of the food product. It is difficult to hold these graters in place using one hand, because if a downward force is applied to the handle to hold the grater down, the grater tends to tip or rock. As a result, grating the food products using these types of graters can be difficult and time consuming.
Another problem with conventional container/blade type graters is that they often slip or move during use. In some situations users place wet towels or cloths underneath the graters to minimize slipping. Alternatively, some food graters include feet or legs which have non-skid or non-slip material attached to the bottom of the legs. Other food graters have a non-skid or non-slip pad attached to the bottom of the graters to prevent slipping or sliding. However, such food graters are still difficult to hold in position because of the positioning of the handles on these graters and the difficulty of holding the food graters against the surface supporting the food grater, as described above.
Accordingly there is a need for an improved food grater which enables the user to stably hold the food grater in position on a support surface using one hand while sliding a food product over the blade portion of the grater using the other hand.